Turn Left at
Orion: Hundreds of Night Sky Objects to See in a Home Telescope - and
How to Find Them [Spiral-bound] by Guy Consolmagno and Dan M. Davis
With over 100,000 copies sold since first publication, this is one of
the most popular astronomy books of all time. It is a unique guidebook
to the night sky, providing all the information you need to observe
a whole host of celestial objects. With a new spiral binding, this edition
is even easier to use outdoors at the telescope and is the ideal beginner's
book. Keeping its distinct one-object-per-spread format, this edition
is also designed for Dobsonian telescopes, as well as for smaller reflectors
and refractors, and covers Southern hemisphere objects in more detail.
Large-format eyepiece views, positioned side-by-side, show objects exactly
as they are seen through a telescope, and with improved directions,
updated tables of astronomical information and an expanded night-by-night
Moon section, it has never been easier to explore the night sky on your
own. Many additional resources are available on the accompanying website,
www.cambridge.org/turnleft.

Philip's Month-by-Month Stargazing 2016 is a concise guide to the
northern-hemisphere night sky, helping starwatchers to see the year's
most fascinating events, whether observing with the naked eye, binoculars
or a telescope. New for 2016, the authors have included ideas for joining
Citizen Science projects at the cutting edge of astronomical research.

The guide is suitable
for use between latitudes 40°N and 60°N, including Britain and
Ireland, Europe as far south as Rome, and Canada and the northern USA
as far south as Philadelphia.

Each chapter (one
for each month of the year) has a colour star map, created by Wil Tirion,
showing the positions and phases of the Moon, the positions of the planets,
and other useful information. Each month also includes a constellation
described in detail; special events during the month, such as eclipses;
a featured astronomical object, usually a deep-sky target; plus an astrophotograph,
with details of how it was taken.

The Solar System
Almanac explains the movement of the planets, with particular attention
paid to their positions in 2016. Solar and lunar eclipses, meteor showers
and comets are also described.

Previously entitled
Collins Pocket Guide Stars and Planets, this classic guide
to the night sky enters its fourth edition as part of the authoritative
Collins Guide series.

A comprehensive
guide to all the stars and celestial objects visible with the use of
binoculars or an average-sized telescope, this fully revised edition
features updated and extended text, improved sky charts, and new diagrams
and photographs.

 Monthly sky
maps of the northern and southern hemispheres, so you can identify constellations
and bright stars from various latitudes throughout the year

 Descriptions
of all the 88 constellations and their stars opposite a specially prepared
chart showing the constellation in relation to the surrounding skies

 Detailed
information on stars, nebulae, galaxies, the Moon and the Solar System

 Practical
advice on choosing and using binoculars and telescopes

In addition to the
charts and diagrams, the text is accompanied by many photographs throughout,
making this the most practical and comprehensive guide to the night
sky.

Philip's Stargazing
With a Telescope by Robin Scagell

Many people
dream about exploring the heavens with a telescope but are often disappointed
because they do not know how to use one properly. This guide reveals what
to expect from a telescope and how to choose the right one, and gives
explanations of how they work, and how to progress from first-time user
to hobby observer. It gives practical help for setting up and using any
telescope, and provides lists of objects to look at with different sizes
of telescope, from both town and country, including the Sun, Moon, planets,
comets, asteroids, stars, clusters, variable stars, double stars, novae
and supernovae, nebulae and galaxies.

Sky &
Telescope's Pocket Sky Atlas [Spiral-bound] by Roger W Sinnott

Thia is a brilliant
atlas in full colour, with all objects colour-coded for easy identification,
being spiral-bound it is easy to use when out on location and all the
pages are marked like a road map with pointers to the next page in the
sequence. Great for the visual observer who wants to learn how to star-hop
to find objects.

This atlas is great
for the deep-sky observer, with star clusters, galaxies and nebulae
well defined and easy to follow. It also has some close up maps of the
Orion Nebula, Pleiades and Virgo Galaxy cluster etc.

Swindon
Stargazers welcomes new people to amatuer astronomy and this page and others will
hopefully set a few pointers on what the hobby is all about.

It may seem quite
daunting entering the new and exciting world of astronomy but one of
the club's priorities is to help new beginners find their way both around
the hobby itself, and around the night sky, which is both fascinating,
and yet at the same time dark and mysterious.

We are helped a great
deal by the number of people interested astronomy, especailly in the
Swindon and Wiltshire area, with a number of clubs and socierties dedicated
to the hobby.

The other thing is that the revolution of the Internet has
helped us find out a great deal more about the stars and planets by giving the
opportunity to access a huge amount of information, and at the press of a button,
for example, we can tap into the huge resources of the Hubble Space Telescope
or the NASA website.

If there is anything you would like to see or learn
more about on these pages, then email by using the link below, and we will see
what we can do!

In
the meantime this web page offers some hints and tips, especially to those new
to the club, or to astronomy, on some of the common tools of the trade. Some books
are also recommended. In the first instance it must be remembered that astronomy
does not have to be expensive. A good quality pair of binoculars can be picked
up for under £50, and can be the gateway to many a fine viewing, especially
those objects such as Comet Lulin, whose trajectory is hard to pick up and you
need to search a lot of sky with ease. The Helios Fieldmaster 10x50 Porro Prism
is a good example for astronomers, as is the Celestron Skymaster series. If you
want to mount the binoculars be sure to choose a pair that has a tripod adaptor.

Small
refracting telescopes are the next best option as these can be quite reasonable
for a 90mm scope, Meade offer this type of scope for around £200, and the
price includes a 'Goto' computerised handset to help you find various objects
in the sky. This is great if you are new to the hobby, but should only be used
as a guide, though with 30,000 items in its program memory you are spoilt for
objects to view!

After this there are many fine telescopes on the market
from the likes of Meade, Celestron and Skywatcher, and if you are thinking of
going a step further, the best thing to do is seek advice from club members and
from specialist shops, such as First Light Optics in Exeter. Never go to a high
street camera shop, the telescopes are often of inferior quality and you will
not get the proper advice you deserve. Talk to the experts!

Moon
Filter

It is recommended
here that you should buy a ND96 (0.9 or 0.6) Moon filter (The 0.9 and
0.6 by the way refers to the density, the higher the number, the more
density. A low density for use with smaller aperture telescopes and a
higher density for large apertures, suggest 0.09 for large apertures above
6" and 0.06 for small apertures below 6" - light transmission
13% and 25% respectively), the ND means Neutral Density and therefore
optics do not add any false colourization, whereas some Moon filters have
a colour bias (usually green) Cost, about £16

Some
basic tools of the trade

Assuming
you have a telescope, and that it came with a set of eyepieces, then below
are some handy items that you could add to your hobby when you are ready.
If you have a telescope with just two basic eyepieces, and would like
to add more, here is the five basic recommended sizes for good viewing:
25mm; 20mm; 17mm; 12mm; 5mm. Basically, you start off with the largest
aperture, the 25mm which has the wider field of view, then you go to a
17mm or a 12mm to take a closer view of the observed object.

So, here are so additional items you may wish to build on and
which are recommended:

The
Barlow Lens

The
Barlow Lens is probably one of the most popular items in the amatuer astronomers
armoury. They come in two sizes (x magnification): 2x and 3x, the 2x being the
most popular.

All they do is multiply the magnification of the eyepiece
you are currently using to view the stars, this can be handy when you have just
a small collection of eyepieces that you bought with your first scope, say a 24mm
and a 17mm. You just
insert the Barlow Lens into the scope once you have found your veiwing object
and then insert your standard eyepiece on top. The Barlow Lens is also used by
many experienced astronomers.

The items illustrated are Tal 2x and 3x Barlows
and available from First Light Optics for £29 (2x) and £34 (3x). The
2x is particularly recommended.

Handy
Tip from Rob Slack...

I picked up a handy tip on how to convert a x2 barlow into a x3 or x4. You basically
just need to move the eyepiece away from the barlow. I use a cheap barlow that
came with my table top Skywatcher, having unscrewed the lenses from it, leaving
just a tube. I can then use this tube as a spacer between the barlow and the eyepiece,
giving me about x3. That means my 12mm F/L eyepiece becomes about a 4mm F/L (12
/ 3) which means magnification for my 1000mm F/L scope is 1000/4=250 times. Thats
about as high as I can push my scope, but the seeing must be very good to use
it at that.

Some of you may also have a Focus Extention Adaptor, these
come in various lengths could also be used to extend a Barlow.

Planetary
Filters

Planetary
filters are handy for helping you to see planets and other objects by adding a
colour mask to accentuate the detail. There are many such filters that are used
for a variety of reasons and it can be a little confusing if you're not sure what
you are looking for. Colour filters are more often than not identified by their
Kodak Wratten numbers. As a beginners guide here is a list of recommended filters
for beginners, offered by Orion Optics, links to this provider is supplied at
the bottom:

Basic
Set of Four Telescope Filters

These color telescope filters are the
most important filters. If you buy no other filters, buy these! This 1.25"
Set of Four Orion Color Telescope Filters includes a new foam-lined hard case
that holds all four filters!

#15
Deep Yellow Planetary Filter

red
and orange features on Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars contrast of lunar features
low-contrast cloud detail on Venus

#25 Red Planetary Filter

Martian
surface details in large scopes bluish cloud regions on Jupiter and
Saturn contrast of Mercury against blue sky cloud definition
on Venus

MANY ARTICLES in Sky & Telescope
and SkyWatch Magazine introduce the basics of backyard astronomy to new and aspiring
hobbyists. Here are some features from past issues to help you make the most of
your time under the stars.